ACORN, the Undead

29102009

H/t resolute GiovanniWorld member Steve!

ACORN is a criminal conglomerate — a vile vampire that sucks the lifeblood out of American taxpayers. But it’s a vampire with many heads. Chop one off, there are still many heads left. And so, this monstrous creature continues.

The latest — silly — effort to chop off one of its many heads is that undertaken by Senator Charles Grassley (R-Iowa), a ranking member of the Senate Committee on Finance that oversees tax-exempt groups and related entities.

On September 22, 2009, Grassley wrote a letter to the U. S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) expressing concern over the federal government still keeping ACORN on the Combined Federal Campaign (CFC). According to Grassley:

“The Combined Federal Campaign is a federal program for federal employees. By keeping ACORN charities on the list, the federal government is giving its seal of approval to a group that advised people to lie to the IRS. And this position is inconsistent with congressional intent, as well as the IRS and Census Bureau’s stand that they no longer want to do business with ACORN.”

The following is an excerpt from the letter Grassley got from OPM Director John Berry:

“ACORN Institute is the only ACORN affiliated organization that participates in the CFC… [T]he activities of certain offices of ACORN that have been reported in the media do not provide a legal basis for excluding the Institute from the CFC. Nor is such a basis provided by the recent continuing resolution which prohibits Federal funding of ACORN or its affiliates, because the ACORN Institute does not received federal funds by virtue of its participation in the CFC.

In accordance with the CFC’s regulations…my authority to exclude…ACORN Institute is limited to those circumstances where the entity has violated of CFC regulations, other applicable provisions of law, or any directive or instruction from the Director. Regardless of the merits of the allegations of unlawful conduct lodged against several offices of ACORN, the ACORN Institute, Inc., is a legally separate organization from ACORN…under the Internal Revenue Code.

Because I have no evidence establishing that the ACORN Institute, Inc., has violated any CFC regulations, other applicable laws, or directive/instruction, I have no basis for lawfully excluding the ACORN Institute from the 2009 CFC campaign….

[Furthermore,] the CFC program does not obligate, award or pay Federal funds to its participants. Instead the CFC provides an annual opportunity for Federal employees to make personal donations of their own funds to participating non-profit organizations….”

* * * * *

What a crock of legalese gobbledeegook!

OPM Director John Berry

This is what we know about John Berry:

He’s an out gay man who, before he was appointed by Obama to be Director of the OPM, was director of the Smithsonian’s National Zoological Park since 2005, executive director of the National Fish and Wildlife Association (2000 to 2005), secretary of the Interior during the Clinton administration, and legislative director for Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-Maryland).

My reaction to all this is:

Indeed, Berry did correctly portray the Combined Federal Campaign. The CFC is a workplace charity campaign similar to but even larger than the United Way. Pledges are made by Federal civilian, postal and military donors; it is not funded by the federal government. Since Sen. Grassley is a ranking member of the Senate Committee on Finance that oversees tax-exempt groups and related entities, shouldn’t Grassley (or at least his staff) know this?

The ACORN Institute, Inc., from what I can glean from its website, is little different from all those other ACORN organizations that proliferate in alarming numbers all across America. It describes itself as a “provider of training and technical assistance in organizing principles and methods” — in other words, ACORN Institute is a training ground for Alinskyite community organizers like Obama.

Finally, it is clear to me that ACORN, with its many heads and criminal activities, is a criminal syndicate and as such, is in violation of the RICO (Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations) Act. Instead of grandstanding by undertaking the quixotic effort of going after the CFC’s donation to ACORN Institute, Republicans like Grassley should have a Congressional hearing on ACORN and demand that the Dept of Justice investigate and indict ACORN for violation of the RICO Act.

Related

Actions

Information

3 responses

“Republicans like Grassley should have a Congressional hearing on ACORN and demand that the Dept of Justice investigate and indict ACORN for violation of the RICO Act. ”
~Eowyn

With all due respect, this last sentence makes three false assumptions.

l. It assumes, incorrectly, that “Republicans” are distinguishable from Democrats in their allegience and responsibility.
2. It fails to understand that the Justice Department is an arm of the executive branch and therefore under the thumb of Obama; ACORN’s principal beneficiary. To a degree, it is not true that there is no honor among theives.
3. It ignores the inept behavior of Sen. Grassley and assumes willingness on his part to actively fight for the American public. To be convincing he would have to demonstrate the ability to “walk the talk.”

In a perfect world, your sentence would be quite acceptable. That is not the world we live in. The world we live in is devious and corrupt. He may proclaim the necessity from the house tops but we all know that any RICO-type investigation is highly unlikely. I agree it would be delightful but hold little hope for any inquiry. Thanks for the post.